Granted, these are spectacularly strange times.  Orwellian, really.  Today was Day One…Ground Zero if you like that term, of a shift in perception.  I should have been waking up in Orange County.  Am I disappointed?  Honestly, no.  But I am in danger of getting bored, or going crazy.   Now is a time to put the Greater Good ahead of my individual wants and I have no trouble with that.  But the calendar was cleared for “holidays” so now what?

Now is time to provide comfort.  To root myself to my sense of humour.  And use common sense.  I honestly was almost out of brown rice and toilet paper yesterday.  With washed hands, and sanitizing wipes installed in my car, I went in search of supplies.  I should have known something was up when I couldn’t find a basket or a cart anywhere near the store entrances.  Nor could I find any kind of rice.  I didn’t need any canned goods, but those were mostly gone too.  Hugging my 12 pack of toilet paper, it was hard not to feel like a cliché, but at least I didn’t have a shopping cart full of them like another lady I spied.  Was she also one of the people buying cases of bottled water…what is the matter with their taps??

Waking up today, I went to my gym.  It’s one of those small “boutique” gyms that already had a high hygiene standard.  As I opened the door, the smell of Lysol wafted out into the cold air where I stood.  I like going to this place partly because they exude such a positive and supportive culture.  They still do, but it was clear the staff are reeling from lots of anxiety directed their way.  The class was small and the atmosphere was remarkably “different”.

So I kinda felt like some soothing was in order back home.  Cooking!  I came home and made my youngest blueberry muffins for his breakfast.  From three shelves of cookbooks, the one I reached for wasn’t haute cuisine, but comfort.  A homespun cookbook from the kitchens of Mayne Island, to which my family has a special connection.  Tonight’s dinner was also from this cookbook…a meatloaf “roll” with a rhubarb cake for dessert.  I decided to make it special and we would eat in the dining room, which hasn’t happened since our last family birthday dinner in January. Searching through cupboards looking for candles…bonanza!  I found chocolates from Christmas!!  Yum.  Things are looking up.

The other thing that gave me a lot of satisfaction today was gardening.  What I ended up doing was moving a lot of river rock.  But the end result was supremely satisfying, and, surveying my finished product that I made several family members comment extensively on, I realized that in a world that feels a bit out of control, there is a lot of satisfaction to be had in controlling minor things like rocks in my garden.  😊  So my suggestion to you is to go control some small part of your life; it might provide a lot of joy.